No minister of mines harms national economy: Watchdog

If the absence of a full-time minister and the consequential fragility of the ministry of mines, is not addressed, it would have negative repercussions for economy of the country, the Natural Resources Monitoring Network said.

According to the network, nothing from Afghanistan was displayed at the international mines expo in Canada.

The network said that the absence of a mining minister has had negative consequences for the capabilities and capacities of the ministry.

The watchdog body added that it had consequences for contracts which had been signed for implementation of some mega projects, including Aynak Copper mine and Hajigak Mine as well as other smaller capacity projects.

“A year has passed since the gypsum contracts were terminated and no progress has been made. Officials of ministry of mines tell us that the issue is handled by the national procurement commission,” said gypsum factory owner in Balkh Mohammad Asif Hussaini.

The network said the continuation of job of a caretaker and lack of capacity within the ministry of mines have undermined the capabilities and abilities of the ministry.

“The caretaker issue in the ministry of mines has reached in a point that matters are referred even to the second and third caretakers. Unfortunately, these problems are growing,” said Ibrahim Jaffari, head of Natural Resources Monitoring Network

Ministry of mines declined to comment on the allegations. There has been frequent criticism about the fragility in the ministry of mines in the past.

The Presidential palace so far has failed to nominate the minister of mines.

One factor of the Afghan conflict is the Afghan government's failure to maintain a balance in its foreign policy. The imbalanced foreign policies of governments have paved the ground for Afghanistan to turn into a battlefield of proxy wars.